The present Invention relates to electrical cables and more particularly to electrical cables having a braided construction.
It is known for electrical cables to include one or more braid of electrically insulating material for providing insulation for the electrical conductors of th cable. Furthermore braids of electrically conductive material may be formed around one or more insulated conductors to provide a shielding. Cables flaying multiple conductors may be produced, each being individually insulated, but such cables become more bulky as the number of conductors increases. The increase in bulk may be minimised by reducing the diameter of the conductors or the thickness of the insulation, but such measures can reduce the performance of the cable.
Cables having multiple conductors can also be provided by arranging the conductors side-by-side to form so called ribbon cables, but such cables can occupy a large area making them unsuitable for use in some applications. It can also be difficult to provide electromagnetic shielding for conductors of such cables.
In accordance with the present invention there is provided a cable formed as an elongate body of electrically insulating material, said body having two or more electrical conductors disposed relative to a surface of the elongate body and arranged to extend along the length of the elongate body, wherein each of the at least two electrical conductors are arranged to remain separate from one another along the length of the elongate body.
Optionally, at least one of the two or more electrical conductors are at least partially enclosed by the electrically insulating material forming the elongate body. In this case, the elongate body may be of a first braided construction having at least one conductive element providing electrical continuity between one end of the elongate body and an other end of the elongate body and so provide one of the said electrical conductors. Furthermore, the first braided construction may have two or more conductive elements, each providing electrical continuity between one end of the elongate body and an other end of the elongate body and so each provide one of the said electrical conductors, each conductive element in the first braided construction being held in spaced relationship and therefore in electrical isolation from other conductive elements of the first braided construction by electrically insulating material of the braided construction.
The electrical conductors may be of a conductive metal, metal coated insulators or carbon fibre or conductive polymers.
The electrical insulators may be of nylon, polyamide, acetate, cotton or wool.
These and other aspects of the present invention appear in the appended claims which are incorporated herein by reference and to which the reader is now referred.